Hey guys! I'm so excited that so many people are reading this fic! Up until now it's mostly been about Sakura, but don't worry, folks! Tomoyo will come into more of the picture soon! This is also a longer chapter to make up for the previous shorter one.

I also know that this was a super fast update, but I couldn't stop thinking about this story and the possibilities! I also had a bit of inspiration hit me today, and I felt like pouring my heart out there.

As for my favorite CCS male character, I'd say I HAVE to go with Touya. Idk why, but he makes me swoon a little bit.

As always, lemme know what you think! I'd love to get your opinion of this chapter, it makes me motivated to write more :)

Thursday, 10 am

Kami-sama, how could her day have gone downhill this quickly?

I mean, the first part of her week had gone perfectly!— after investing in three more alarm clocks to ensure she'd get to class on time. And they usually did the job— the first to wake her roommate up an hour earlier than she had to be up, by the time the second one went off, Tomoyo would be standing at the foot of Sakura's bed, silently staring at Sakura's sleeping form with death-rays. And if the heat of Tomoyo's perturbed glare wasn't enough to wake Sakura from her death-like slumber, a whispered threat of bedazzling all of Sakura's clothes usually did the trick.

Despite her little over-sleeping problem, Sakura was actually meticulously organized with her schoolwork. Her notebooks were organized by subject, color, and day of the week in her pink messenger bag, and her mechanical pencils with pristine, untouched eraser tops were all filled with lead. Her polished, freshly repadded clarinet was strapped over her back.

Look at me, she nodded in approval as she gave herself a quick once-over in the full length mirror. Today was the placement audition for Wind Symphony, and she was wearing black fitted slacks, a black cardigan, and black flats. She'd gotten up extra early and curled her long, auburn hair so the tresses cascaded down her back. Little pink cherry blossom earnings dangled from her petite ears. I'm a real college girl, taking a real college audition!

The audition music was posted online over the summer, and Sakura spent a good portion of her vacation time analyzing and practicing the orchestral excerpts. Most of them she had played in Hiiragizawa's orchestra, so they weren't too bad, but it didn't make her anxiety go away.

And her anxiety rocketed sky-high when she stepped outside her building and was blasted by an insane heat wave. Immediately she felt sticky with sweat and just gross. Great, just fly-freaking-fantastic. Thank goodness she put on extra deodorant today, she snuck a whiff of her armpit. Let's see, she pulled out the informational sheet out of her pocket.

Wind Symphony Placement Audition

Clarinets: 11:00 am, Tsubasa Great Hall

Tsubasa Great Hall? Must be in Tsubasa Auditorium, she concluded. Sakura had passed by that building on her way to several of her other classes. Unfortunately, it was about a ten minute walk from where she was right now.

She tried to calm her nerves as she walked through the crowded streets of downtown Tokyo. Dum, de dum, de dum, this is going to be FINE. Look, you've taken plenty of auditions in the past, this one is no different! And besides, you're playing that clarinet solo from Bernstein's Overture to Candide. And that Bernstein guy was crazy! I mean, look at his hair! I have better hair than that. I should be fine, she reassured herself.

Except this is college, her nerves cried. This is where it really matters, this is make it or break it.

About ten minutes later, Sakura stood at the foot of the steps of Tsubasa Hall. It was a large, domed building, with white granite steps leading up to its heavy glass double doors. She gulped, not liking how imposing the gargoyles looked at her from their platform on the sides of the steps.

That's strange. The hall was completely dark and empty, not a person in sight. She looked to her left and right- a tumbleweed could have blown through the place. The crickets chirped. Where is everybody? Sakura felt completely out of place standing there alone.

She rechecked the sheet and her watch. This can't be right, she frowned. They've got to be here somewhere. Except she saw no one, and this building was kind of creeping her out, these dark shadows moving around the place. But she walked around the place, up the stairs to the balcony to backstage. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a frumpy janitor mopping the floor.

"Excuse me! This is Tsubasa Great Hall, right?" she asked the older man, who just scowled at her.

"Whaddya doing here, girl? There are no classes in here today, now git on out of here!" he glared and pointed at the doors with his dirty mop.

"But...I have an audition!" Sakura protested, showing him the piece of paper, "It's supposed to be here!"

"No auditions here, girl, now git! Yer messing up my floors," he waved her off dismissively. He threw her out and locked the doors behind him.

Sakura stared at the man as he turned his jingly keyring through the locks and resumed mopping. She felt the panic rise in her throat and began banging on the doors, crying out, "Wait! I have an audition here, please let me in!" He ignored her desperate pleas.

WHAT IS GOING ON?!

Sakura whirled around, taking deep calming breaths like they taught her in that one yoga class she took with Tomoyo. In...out...in...out. Don't panic yet, you still have time. That's why you woke up early," she reminded herself.

Better call in the big guns. She fumbled for her phone and hit number one on speed dial. "This is Touya Kinomoto. If this is the kaijuu, I'll kick their asses. If this is a boy who wants/has/thinks about touching my kaijuu, I have snipers watching your every move. Put your hands slowly on your head. To the rest of you, leave a message."

Okay, Touya is out. Tomoyo is probably in class, so no. Otuu-san is too far away and he'll just worry... She looked at her phone and groaned. Fifteen minutes. All she wanted was to have a half-way decent audition. Sakura plopped down on one of the steps and tried to think of what to do.

You're a big girl. Pull yourself together. But her emotions got the best of her, and she stifled a sob. Great. Now she's lost, crying AND sweating at the same time, and about to be late. She felt her black clothes sticking to her skin and tied her hair back into a sloppy pony tail. Damn this hot weather.

Ten minutes. She got up and asked people passing by if they've heard of Tsubasa Great Hall, but they all just looked at her like she had a few screws loose and pointed towards the auditorium behind her.

Sakura's head hung low. Maybe she should just go back to the dorm. If I'm going to miss my audition, she reasoned, I might as well do it in the cool air conditioning.

Her feet trudged along the sidewalk, as the sun blazed overhead.

"Sakura-chan?"

Sakura tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and would have fallen face first into the abrasive pavement had it not been for a pair of cool, pale hands grabbing her shoulders.

"Daijoubu, Sakura-chan?" she heard a familiar, comforting voice ask. She looked up at the young, grey-haired man with glasses that magnified his warm grey eyes.

"Yukito-san!" her eyes lit up as she saw her former childhood crush and brother's best friend. "What are you doing here?"

"I was on my way back from the supermarket- Touya's been so busy recently that he hasn't been able to buy food for our apartment." Then he frowned, noticing Sakura's tear-stained face. "Is everything okay?"

Sakura suddenly felt shy, and a little stupid. "I may or may not be a little lost. And late," she mumbled into her shirt, looking down abashedly feeling like a twelve year old girl again.

"Where are you going?"

"Some place called Tsubasa Great Hall. Only, it's not in Tsubasa Auditorium, and no one seems to know where this is," her eyes welled up again.

Yukito took a glance at the sheet. He chuckled. "These university donors. Don't worry, Sakura, it's not your fault you're lost. The Great Hall is actually in the performing arts center- who knows what was going through the minds of those old men when they were naming the buildings."

"I don't know where that is, either!" Sakura bit her lip. "And I'm going to be late."

"I've got some time, I'll walk you over. And besides," he winked and her conspiratorially. "Your onii-chan wouldn't forgive me if I left you wandering around campus lost for hours, right?"

Even though Sakura had gotten over her little crush years ago, she felt her cheeks grow warm at his wink.

The pair chatted amicably as they walked across campus. Yukito Tsukishiro lived with Touya, and he was a senior studying archeology. He reminded Sakura of her father- both had large wire rimmed glasses and compassionate smiles. That was probably why Sakura had been infatuated with him since the second grade, until she slowly grew out of it. Still, he felt like part of the Kinomoto family since he was around the house so often.

"And this is it!" They stopped in front of a narrow black door in an alleyway.

"...THIS is Tsubasa GREAT Hall?" Sakura said, incredulously, noting the absolute sketchiness of location.

Yukito chuckled. "This is the stage entrance. I figured it would be faster than going through the main entrance," he said, opening the door and stepping inside the darkness of backstage. "And besides, I think one of my good friends is working at these auditions... Syaoran, my man!"

SYAORAN?!

Sakura watched in abject horror as Yukito fist bumped and clasped the all-too-familiar brown-haired man on the back.

WHAT. NO. ABORT.

Unfortunately for her, she couldn't run for the door fast enough. She had only taken two steps when she heard Yukito ask, "...have you met my friend, Sakura Kinomoto?"

Sakura froze. And turned. And put on a fake, cheesy smile. "Why, hello there Li." she smiled through gritted teeth.

The two men stared at her. Then Syaoran's face broke into a grin. "Miss Kinomoto, funny seeing you here," he smirked.

"Oh, you two have met!" Yukito looked pleased with himself.

Poor Yukito. Poor, unsuspecting, Yukito. He couldn't possibly know what fiend his "friend" is.

"Alright, then Sakura-chan, I'll leave you in the capable hands of this guy," he pointed. "I'll see you later!"

"Wait, no, Yukito! Don't go!" Sakura pleaded, grasping at his sleeve. But with a smile, a wave, and a "I'll tell your onii-chan you said hi!," he was out the door. Damn it.

She turned around, and looked at the man sheepishly. Syaoran raised one eyebrow at her.

Sigh. There's no avoiding it now. She approached his table. "And what can I do for you, Miss Kinomoto?" he smiled pleasantly at her, reclining back in his chair and resting his feet on the table.

"I have an audition scheduled at eleven," she answered as politely as she could.

He pulled the ever-present pen out from behind his ear and tapped it twice on the clipboard. "Name?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sakura Kinomoto."

"Year?"

"Freshman."

"Instument?"

"Clarinet."

"Figures," he muttered, scribbling onto his clipboard.

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?!" Sakura asked, annoyed.

"I pegged you as a clarinet. You know. Since you're..." Syaoran waved his hand around, as if that warranted an answer.

"Since I'm what?"

"High strung. Uptight," he replied smugly, his tongue smacking the "t" hard.

"I am NOT uptight!" she spat back hotly, slamming both of her hands on the table and leaning in to get in his face. She realized too late that her reply suggested otherwise.

He leaned forward, a sarcastic expression on his face. "Then why are you all dressed up for a blind audition?"

Sakura blinked. What? "Blind...audition?" she repeated, his words not quite registrating.

He nodded slowly.

"BLIND audition? Meaning, the judges can't see you. You're the first person I've seen that's dressed up to stand behind a curtain," he chuckled, scribbling more notes.

Why, oh why, oh WHY did she have to run into him on TODAY, of all days!? She was in the middle of sputtering something back indignantly when Syaoran stood up and swept her to a door on their right. "This the warm-up room over there. All of the other clarinet players are in there. I'll come get you when it's your turn." And then he gently shoved her into the room and shut the door behind him.

Sakura slowly turned to face the rest of the room. Six pairs of eyes stared back at her. "Heh...heh..." Sakura rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

A girl with brown braided pigtails stepped forward and held out her hand. "Hi! I'm Chiharu Mihara. Junior. What's your name?" her light brown eyes crinkled.

Sakura shook her hand. "Hi, Mihara-san! I'm Sakura Kinomoto. Freshman." She looked at all the other people in the room, who had resumed warming up, their fingers flying over the keys in arpeggios and runs.

"Please, call me Chiharu! Can I call you Sakura-chan?" Sakura nodded, feeling a little intimidated by everyone else in the room.

"Don't worry about the rest of them," Chiharu waved her hands dismissively. "They're all tight-wads. I've got to finish warming up too, but good luck!"

Sakura nodded as Syaoran poked his head in and yelled, "Mihara, you're up!"

"You too, Chiharu!"

Sakura retreated to a corner and set up shop, soaking her read in an empty yellow pill container filled with water and pushing the joints of her clarinet together. She felt really self-conscious warming up, especially since she knew absolutely no one here. Stop it! She shook her head. You got all the way here. Don't mess this up now!"

Even though Sakura usually didn't have a problem playing in front of other people, she felt curious eyes on her and felt distinctly uncomfortable. She turned around and faced the wall as she went through her warm up routine. First, chromatic long tones. Then tonguing exercises. Then smears. Those were her favorites, taking one note and bending it up and down to other notes.

She heard Syaoran open and shut the door many times over the next half hour and announce unfamiliar names. "Aiko Nakamuru!" The number of people dwindled from seven to four, to just Sakura as she impatiently waited for her turn. She hated being the last to audition, because that usually meant judges were already bored of hearing the same thing over and over again.

Aiko was taking a decidedly long time, Sakura observed dryly. And she was getting bored. She had already warmed up and ran through the audition materials twice. Absent-mindly, she began smearing notes again, eventually working up the chops to trill on a low G, and pulled up her fingers quickly one by one, smearing from clarion register D to C.

Clap. Clap. Clap. She whipped her head around and saw a smirking Syaoran clapping his hands slowly. "Very nice. Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue."

"I'm surprised you know it," she said back, dryly.

To her surprise, he didn't say anything back. He looked at her with a smile and an indescribable expression on his face, as if he were contemplating something.

He just stared at her for a few moments before the corner of his mouth pulled upwards. "Come on. It's your turn."

She followed him backstage and stood behind a large red velvet curtain. "Audition number seven!" Syaoran called out into the darkness and walked back backstage, leaving Sakura alone on the brightly lit stage.

Sakura set her music on the stand and took a deep breath. Here goes. She started with the slow excerpt, part of a Mozart concerto and marveled at how well the stage rang her dark tonal sound around the room. Then she moved on the the Bernstein, pulling out every emotion she could out of the sickening-sweet melody. When she finished her audition, the room was dead silent.

She had no idea what the etiquette was for blind auditions, and just stood there unsure of what to do. "Psst!" she heard from the right. Syaoran motioned for her to come off stage. He followed her as she went back into the warm-up room and starting disassembling her equipment.

"Not bad, Miss Kinomoto. A little flat on that high Eb, but otherwise not bad."

She felt a little irritated at his critiques. She flipped the latches of her case down and picked up her bag. "Why thank you so much, kind sir," she retorted back sarcastically. He really was too much. "Now if you don't mind..." she gestured towards his large frame blocking the door. "I have somewhere to be."

"Hot date?" he teased.

"You wish," she grumbled.

"Actually, I do."

Sakura spun around on her tracks and stared at the man, who was looking at her, his brown eyes were dead serious.

"...what are you saying, Li?" Sakura licked her lips nervously. Nervous? Where did that come from?

He just looked at her, eyebrows knitted together in that weird expression. Then his face relaxed. "Nothing," he lightly replied. And just like that, he walked past her, the small smirk back on his handsome face.

Relieved as she was, Sakura couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. And that freaked her out a little bit.

oOo

Balcony, 5:30 pm

Tomoyo was out on the balcony, scrutinizing one of her costume sketches. Not dramatic enough, she decided. She was in the middle of crumpling up her drawings when her phone buzzed. She looked at the caller ID: Touya Kinomoto

Touya? Her heart fluttered a little faster at seeing the name of Sakura's older brother. They really haven't spoken since the spring concert-sure, they've seen each other plenty since because of Sakura, but it was like they had an unspoken rule in front of his little sister.

Curiously, she answered. "Moshi-moshi?" she said breathlessly.

"Daidouji?" Touya's low tenor hummed in her ear. "Is Sakura with you? She's not picking up."

Tomoyo stood up and glanced at one of her roommate's many alarm clocks. "I think she's in class right now. Is something wrong?"

"Well, I was in a meeting and missed her call earlier. I was going see if she wanted to get some take-out," he explained smoothly.

"Oh!" Tomoyo replied, her voice a little more cheerful than she intended. Of course he wouldn't be calling for you, baka. "Well, I'll let her know when she gets back."

"That squirt." he sighed. "Actually, Daidouji, I'm already outside. I'm also out of quarters for this parking meter and I'm starving. Wanna come with?"

Biting her lip, Tomoyo looked at the spread of sketches, colored pencils, and scraps of fabric on the balcony table. She really did have a lot of work to do.

But it's not like you're getting much done right now, her inner voice reasoned out, acknowledging the pile of crumpled up sketches at her feet.

And it's not everyday that Touya asks you to dinner.

"Sure," she heard herself saying. Then she cleared her throat. "I mean...why not? I'll be down in five."

Touya's rich voice chuckled. "Glad to hear that, Daidouji." A soft click.

Tomoyo stared at her phone. Oh my...

She texted Sakura quickly.

Touya swung by looking for you. I had to run an errand, I'll be back soon!

-TD

Tomoyo bit her lip. For reasons unbeknownst to herself, she didn't feel quite comfortable telling Sakura about...this thing. I'm not going to make it a bigger deal than it is, she thought resolutely.

And then she looked down at her clothes. She was wearing a light blue t-shirt over a black jumper dress that was covered in glitter from shedding fabric swatches she'd been going through earlier. Her wavy raven locks fell down her back, a little tangled. She winced as she peeked in the mirror.

And you call yourself a fashion designer. You look like a kid, she scoffed at herself. But she didn't have time to change into something else, so she resigned to run her fingers through her hair, breaking up the tangles and grabbing her red cross-body purse and sunglasses.

It's just take-out, she reminded herself. An INFORMAL take-out dinner that he was supposed to have with his LITTLE SISTER.

But he asked you instead.

"It's just dinner. He's just Sakura's mean old onii-chan. And I'm just Sakura's best friend. That's all. Nothing changed," she told herself.

But if he really was just Sakura's older brother, why were the butterflies in her stomach fluttering so fast?

oOo

7:30 pm

Sakura turned her key in the lock. "Tomoyo-chan?"

The light was off, and the balcony's sliding glass door was still open. Sakura went to shut the door, but saw Tomoyo's sketches and crumpled paper balls strewn everywhere. That's weird, Sakura frowned. Whatever her friend had to go do must have been really important- Tomoyo was usually a lot neater than this.

Oh well, she shrugged, picking up the rejected sketches and tossing them into the blue recycling bin. The evening breeze felt nice on Sakura's skin- and she quickly took of her cardigan and slacks, replacing them with a dark green cami and black athletic shorts. She dropped her backpack down on the balcony and took out her music history textbook, but wasn't quite ready to get started on the required readings.

The sky overhead was turning from streaky sunset orange to a rich cerulean blue, and the first silvery stars of the night appeared, twinkling softly from millions of miles away. Sakura looked up at them wistfully.

"Hi, Okaa-sama!" she said to the stars, sitting crossed legged on the floor of the balcony floor. "I miss you a lot. And I know onii-chan and otuu-san do too. But don't worry about us! We've got each other, and I've got Tomoyo-chan! We're all really happy. And college is kind of fun!" she winced as she said this.

"Okay, okay, I lied. College is hard."

Nadeshiko Amamiya was a beautiful opera singer who married Fujitaka Kinomoto at sixteen years old, who was at the time a high school history professor. Her elitist family had strongly opposed the marriage, but they were in love. She had passed away when Sakura was three, and Sakura could barely remember anything about her. Her father always put up a photograph of her at the breakfast table. Even fifteen years after her passing, Fujitaka was still very much in love with her.

"Okaa-sama, does it ever get any easier?" she whispered up at the sky, her emerald eyes shining. "Some SIGN that things will get better would be nice."

Sakura crossed her fingers and waited. Nothing. She sighed, opening up her textbook and flipping around pages absent-mindedly.

Next door, a glass door slid open and Syaoran stepped out onto his own balcony. Oh great, she groaned, burying her head in her arms. Just what I need.

"Kinomoto?" As she lifted her head up to glare at the intruder of her privacy, the overhead lights switched on and Syaoran's body was bathed in a heavenly glow. He looked like an golden archangel, too handsome for his own damn good.

"Kinomoto? What are you doing out here?" he repeated, amused.

Sakura blinked. I really hope this is mom's idea of a joke.

oOo

There was a reason that Tomoyo almost always wore heels everywhere- she was only 5'3'' and needed the few extra inches boost her up to everyone else's height.

And standing next to Touya Kinomoto, she never felt shorter in her life. And this was just standing in line at the restaurant.

"We'll take an order of honey walnut shrimp, kung pao chicken, and three orders of vegetable lo mein," he said to the cashier, who ran his order up.

"Anything else for you, sir?"

"Daidouji?" he looked at Tomoyo, who shook her head quickly. His eyes were impenetrable through his opaque aviators.

"Two orders of noodles?" she whispered out of the side of her mouth as the cashier swiped Touya's credit card.

"Shh, I'm starving. Yuki ate all my food at home- I'm a growing boy!" he patted his non-existent belly playfully as our raven-haired heroine snorted.

Tomoyo slipped two pairs of chopsticks into the plastic bag carrying their bounty and followed the man down the block and into a park. "Where are we going?" she asked, there shorter legs trying to keep up with his long strides.

"I was thinking somewhere with fresh air. The architecture building isn't exactly bursting with it, and i've been running to meetings all day," he slipped his sunglasses off, scanning the park for picnic tables. There were no tables in sight, but there was a small children's playground close by.

"How about here?" Tomoyo walked over and stepped onto a roundabout. "This seems as good as a table as any!" she declared, yelping a little as she lost her balance at the sudden weight shift.

"Careful there, Daidouji, or I'm going to have to carry you all the way to the hospital," Touya warned her playfully, stretching his long, lean legs out before him as he sat in one of the divided sections of the roundabout.

Tomoyo, who had regained her balance since then, was careful to sit a few inches away from him so there was no contact between the two at all. He handed her a box of noodles and a pair of chopsticks while she opened up the box of shrimp and chicken.

"This looks great," Tomoyo commented, a little wary of the growing silence. "Thanks for letting me tag along today."

"It's my pleasure, Daidouji," he gallantly replied. "Besides, it's nice to get to talk to someone who isn't wearing a tie or pushing deadlines on me. It's quite a change talking to a real artist for a change," he winked.

Tomoyo flushed, turning back to her shrimp. Shrimp is safe. "I think your work counts as art, too. You design buildings, and I design clothing. Aren't they similar lines of work?"

"It would be if I got to design the buildings I want to. Most of my clients put utility over aesthetics, which is understandable. But it's also a little tedious, designing the same type of structure over and over again," Touya reflected, his eyes focusing on something far away as he chewed his food.

She didn't know what to say in response to that, so she let a comfortable silence grow between the two. They watched the kids on the playground swing on the swings and climb the jungle gym and ate their food, stuffing the garbage into the plastic bag.

He broke the silence first. "I'm surprised Sonomi let you pursue fashion. She seemed pretty keen on you studying business."

Tomoyo thought about how to answer. Tapping her chopsticks lightly against the white take-out box, she replied, "She was really hesitant about the whole thing. But she's more understanding than people let on. If I didn't go into fashion and at least give it a shot, I would live the rest of my life in regret. Better to fail on my own terms, than to never try at all, right?"

"Wise words, Daidouji," he grinned, and Tomoyo liked how he lit up a little boy, in contrast to his perpetual serious demeanor. "Are you sure that you and Sakura the same age?"

"I'm sure," Tomoyo stuck out her tongue. "You know, this reminds me of the one at Penguin Park back home in Tomoeda," she ran her fingers lightly over the metal plane of the roundabout. "Sakura and I always loved spinning around on that old thing."

"You mean like this?" Touya's face grinned devilishly, and before Tomoyo could say anything he was up, gripping two of the dividers between his strong hands and rotating the platform that she was sitting on.

"Touya!" she squealed, gripping the the closest divider with white knuckles.

"Hold on, Daidouji!" And he ran faster and faster around the circle, and his momentum made the roundabout spin so fast that everything whizzed past in a blur. She felt Touya leap onto the platform and somehow slide his way back next to her, not letting go of the divider.

There something exhilarating about losing all that control, not knowing when your fingers might accidentally let go of the bars and fling you out into oblivion. Tomoyo closed her eyes and reveled in the freedom, the cool night breeze whipping through her hair. She didn't know what Touya was doing, but she was aware that his presence was so close.

And as the roundabout slowed its rotation down, she laid down flat against the platform, not caring if she got dirt on her dress. Her cheeks were flushed with excitement and she was breathing heavily. Her thick hair trailed behind, her body outlining the radius of the circle. She tried to get her bearings again. "That was fun," she said, still breathing heavily.

"It was," Touya agreed, and to her surprise, he laid down next to her, their two heads next to each other with their legs pointed away from one another. He was panting from running so fast.

The sun had gone down, and they both looked up at the cerulean sky, at the twinkling stars that peeked out from behind billowing clouds. Their heavy breathing slowed. Tomoyo's quick high slowly came down, and she suddenly felt at peace.

"You know," Touya quietly said, pointing up at the night sky. "When mom died, I couldn't figure out how to tell Sakura that she wasn't coming back."

Tomoyo listened, reveling in how his low voice gave her goosebumps. She shivered.

"How do you explain to a three-year-old that her mother isn't ever coming back? So I told her that mom was traveling to the stars because she was bright enough to become one. And that if you look hard enough, she'll always be there in the sky, watching over us."

Tomoyo didn't say anything. She knew that the best thing she could do was listen. Her own father had left before Tomoyo was born, and she understood that hollow feeling of abandonment, though it wasn't Nadeshiko's fault. And she supposed her father had his own reasons too, but it hurt knowing that those reasons were bigger and somehow better than staying with his daughter.

"Daidouji, look up," she felt Touya's finger poke her side.

Twinkling above her face with the stars were little flickering golden lights- lightening bugs, she realized. She sat slowly up and watched them in awe, their little bodies dancing around in the air in an ancient waltz, the orbs of lighting coming in and out of focus. It was beautiful.

She heard Touya chuckle beside her and saw him sit up, his two hands cupped together. "Hold out your hands, Daidouji."

Their hands touched as he passed a solitary lightening bug from his hands to hers, and electricity zapped through Tomoyo's fingers and in that moment, she never felt more alive. She raised her violet eyes and saw his dark gaze through his impossibly long eyelashes, the yellow light of the firefly dancing in his eyes. He didn't let go of her hands, and they stayed like that, silently sharing the beautiful light of fireflies.

And for that moment, it didn't matter that she was just Sakura's friend's and he was her older brother. In that moment, it was just Tomoyo and the man who might mean something more.

I hope that was enough to satisfy you romantics out there. That is literally my dream scene.

- SFairyT